Product Description

When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5676 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Jane Austen (1775-1817) was extremely modest about her own genius but has become one of English literature's most famous women writers. She is the author of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey.

Customer Reviews

A great buy for a long journey!
*Please don't vote on this review unless you were looking at the audiobook version or you will find the info irrelevant. It's note meant to be about the print editions.....*

We listen to a lot of these audiobooks on long drives and I think this one has to be our favourite. As die hard 'P&P' fans, it appears often in our car.

It's beautifully read by the lady who plays Aunt Gardner in the 1995 BBC TV version and she makes a superb job of it. Her reading is full of feeling without being in the least over the top. Although she doesn't do a lot of *very* different voices to the degree that some readers do, she's easy to listen to and easy to follow. Volume is steady so you can listen in the car without the voice disappearing, (as on some....), then blowing you off your seat when you turn it right up!!

I think everyone knows the story, so that needs next to no comment in itself. Of course, it's abridged in this version, but very carefully done so that you don't miss any of the key parts and none of the characters are dropped as so often happens in film and TV versions.

Also good for listening whilst doing housework, chilling out, sun-bathing, public transport. Enjoy!=)

Top of the class
I had the terrible misfortune to go to a school that insisted on making us read the most miserable old books for our English courses. For years afterwards I suffered under the assumption that anything labelled as a "classic" was certain to be grim and impenetrable, and I stuck to reading relatively modern novels.

I bless the day when I wrestled with my prejudice and picked up a friend's anthology of Austen's novels. I had heard plenty about Austen's "social observation" before. It's an unfortunate phrase, because it suggested to me that her writing would be interesting but a bit dry and academic. Not a bit of it.

All of the Austen novels I've read so far have been good, but Pride and Prejudice is head and shoulders above the rest and ranks as one of the most entertaining books I have ever read. The characters are fabulously drawn, from the odious Mr Collins and the vacuous Lydia to the blithe Mr Bingley and the truly heroic Lizzie Bennett. The book is wonderfully constructed, going through what seems to be fairly straightforward plot development before Mr Darcy's proposal puts the main protagonists through a second half full of suspense and heart-felt self-criticism. Austen's writing is clear, concise, full of acute observations and coloured with a wonderful sense of humour.

While the whole book is extremely satisfying, it is Lizzie who steals the show. Much has been made of Mr Darcy's sex appeal, but most red-blooded men would find hard to deny that Miss Bennett is a deeply fascinating and attractive woman. She is fabulous throughout, and the story is peppered with moments where she delivers some truly marvelous dialogue, not least her reaction to Mr Darcy's proposal and her interview with Lady Catherine (which almost had me cheering out loud on the train into work). Strong-willed, intelligent, good-looking and cool under pressure; what a woman.

A fabulous book. How I wish I had read it years ago.

Define classic
This book is irresistable. Darcy set the standard for the male love interest. Moody, passionate - you know he's proud, but you just can't help it. And Lizzie, in the context of the time and Jane Austen's class, she's a throughly modern girl. Intelligent, strong-willed and opinionated - you know she's going to get THE man.I've read this book countless times and enjoyed it on so many levels. Pure romance; social commentary on a certain section of society in C18th; satire of the manners of a certain section of society; and the whole "my word that Lizzie Bennett is a very HEALTHY" - nudge, nudge, wink, wink - "girl. Walking all that way here, with her rosy cheeks, eh!"